Alcohol and cognitive control: implications for regulation of behavior during response conflict

Alcohol intoxication often leads to dysregulated behavior in contexts characterized by conflict between prepotent response tendencies and incompatible alternative responses. Recent research has identified 2 components of an anterior executive attention system that are essential for adaptive behavior when response conflict exists. Event-related potential (ERP) measures of evaluative and regulative cognitive control were collected to determine if impaired executive attention was responsible for observed behavior deficits when intoxicated. Intoxicated participants displayed task performance deficits on incongruent color-naming trials relative to sober controls. Alcohol did not affect P3 magnitude/latency, indicating that timing and integrity of stimulus evaluation remained intact. In contrast, alcohol did reduce frontal components of ERP that index evaluative and regulative cognitive control processes.     

Goal-striving and the implementation of goal intentions in the regulation of body weight

Abstract

The enactment of relatively easy-to-implement and relatively difficult-to-implement goal intentions was investigated in a field study of body weight maintenance for 141 university students. Three appraisal processes were examined as mechanisms for implementing intentions: self-efficacy, outcome expectancy, and affect towards means. The results showed that goal-directed dieting behaviours for men and women and goal-directed exercising/sport activities for men were influenced by the appraisals in a linear compensatory manner, and goal-directed exercising/sport activities for women were influenced by the appraisals via a three-way interaction. Self-efficacy, in particular, was a strong, pervasive determinant of both dieting and exercising/sport activities for men and women.     

Salt taste sensitivity and stimulus volume: sips and drops. Some implications for the Henkin taste test

Various presentation procedures and stimulus volumes were compared in their effect on salt taste sensitivity. For sodium chloride (NaCl) stimuli pipetted onto the tongue, subjects had comparable measured sensitivity to 10 ml and 1 ml volumes but a reduced sensitivity to 0.1 ml volumes. The greatest sensitivity was achieved with 10 ml sipped volumes. Modification of the Henkin dropwise triangular taste test, by increasing the stimulus volumes, increased subjects' sensitivity. Only the 1 ml pipette presentation increased the sensitivity of the Henkin procedure, albeit slightly, to the detection of changes in taste sensitivity, the purpose for which the procedure was actually designed. Such modification did not perturb salivary NaCl levels more than the regular Henkin procedure, so it would not be expected to introduce sensitivity drift.     

Emotional regulation: implications for the psychobiology of psychotherapy

A range of studies have contributed to understanding the psychobiology of emotional regulation. Functional imaging studies have demonstrated that cortico-limbic circuitry plays an important role in mediating processes such as reappraisal and suppression. Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex may be important in conscious reframing, while ventromedial prefrontal cortex and orbitofrontal cortex may be particularly important in emotion evaluation. Gene variants and early environments impact underlying emotional regulation and its neurobiology. It may be hypothesized that during interventions such as psychotherapy there are improvements in emotional regulation, together with the normalization of related psychobiological mechanisms.     

Early individual differences in temperamental reactivity and regulation: implications for effortful control in early childhood

This longitudinal study tested the hypothesis that early temperament is associated with later effortful control. Fear reactivity and object orientation was assessed in a sample of 53 children at 8, 12, and 16 months during a stranger-approach paradigm and at 4.5 or 5.5 years on a battery of effortful control tasks. A latent growth curve analysis was used to model change in reactivity and object orientation across infancy and the prediction of each on later effortful control. Infants who increased in fear reactivity were significantly more likely to show poor performance on effortful control tasks in early childhood. Findings are discussed with respect to the importance of examining early temperamental precursors that contribute to the development of regulation.     

Contributions of weight perceptions to weight loss attempts: Differences by body mass index and gender

Previous studies have consistently observed that women are more likely to perceive themselves as overweight compared to men. Similarly, women are more likely than men to report trying to lose weight. Less is known about the impact that self-perceived weight has on weight loss behaviors of adults and whether this association differs by gender. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis among an employee sample (n = 899) to determine the association of self-perceived weight on evidence-based weight loss behaviors across genders, accounting for body mass index (BMI) and demographic characteristics. Women were more likely than men to consider themselves to be overweight across each BMI category, and were more likely to report attempting to lose weight. However, perceiving oneself to be overweight was a strong correlate for weight loss attempts across both genders. The effect of targeting accuracy of self-perceived weight status in weight loss interventions deserves research attention.     

Slower eating rate reduces the food intake of men, but not women: implications for behavioral weight control

This study tested a central tenet of behavioral weight control: does slower eating rate reduce food intake and positively affect appetite ratings. This study used direct behavioral observation of participants' (n=48; 25BMI35) eating behavior using Universal Eating Monitors. Food intake and ratings of "desire to eat" (collected each minute during meals) were represented as a function of time. Based on an acclimation meal, participants' eating rate was modified by instructing them to eat a bite of food when prompted by a computer, which generated three types of meals: (1) baseline (eating rate was the same as the acclimation meal), (2) reduced-rate (eating rate was reduced by 50%), and (3) combined-rate (eating rate at the beginning of the meal was identical to that of the acclimation meal, subsequently eating rate was reduced by 50%). All meals were ad libitum. Slower eating rate during the reduced-rate and combined-rate meals resulted in less food intake compared to the baseline meal for men, but not women. Ratings of desire to eat, normalized for the amount of food consumed, were lower during the combined-rate meal for men and women. Thus, this basic premise of behavioral weight control was supported for men, but not for women.     

Insulin levels, hunger, and food intake: an example of feedback loops in body weight regulation

The paper reviews studies considering whether hyperinsulinemia, and its resultant effects on adipose tissue mass, can alter perceived hunger, taste, and food consumption. It also describes work addressing the reciprocal question of whether cues associated with food can affect insulin response. Specifically, four general categories of studies are presented. First, studies considering the causes and physiological consequences of chronic hyperinsulinemia are reviewed. Second, work investigating environmental and cognitive influences on insulin secretion are described. These show that high acute levels of insulin can be produced by simply seeing and thinking about food and that individuals showing this response show a greater tendency toward weight gain in a food-abundant environment. Third, studies are covered in which direct manipulations of insulin level, controlling for blood glucose, are performed. These experiments show that elevations in insulin produce increased hunger, heightened perceived pleasantness of sweet taste, and increased food intake. Finally, a study is described that considers how different insulin levels, produced by the type of food ingested, may affect subsequent food intake. Together, these studies show that "overeating" is caused by a complex feedback system of environmental, behavioral, and biological factors.     

Sex role identity and the decision to regain control among women: a learned helplessness investigation

In an investigation focusing on women's attempts to regain control of their environments, women from four sex role identity groups underwent either an initial loss of control (helpless) or control (nonhelpless) experience. Subsequently, they were allowed to choose their role in a team problem-solving task. They could either (a) have total control over the team's decisions, (b) have no control over the team's decisions, or (c) not participate in the task. Compared to women low on masculinity, women high on masculinity chose to be in control of team problem-solving in both the helpless and nonhelpless conditions. Particularly striking, none of the 14 feminine-sex-typed women chose to control the team's decisions in the helpless condition, whereas 10 of the 14 masculine-sex-typed women made this choice. Results are discussed relative to the high rates of depression among women.     

Profiles of emotion regulation: Understanding regulatory patterns and the implications for posttraumatic stress

Trauma survivors often experience posttraumatic stress (PTS) and report concurrent difficulties with emotion regulation (ER). Although individuals typically use multiple regulatory strategies to manage emotion, no studies yet examine the influence of a constellation of strategies on PTS in a community sample. We assessed six ER strategies and investigated whether specific profiles of ER (i.e. the typical pattern of regulation, determined by how often each strategy is used) were related to PTS. A hierarchical cluster analysis indicated that four distinct profiles were present: Adaptive Regulation, Active Regulation, Detached Regulation, and Maladaptive Regulation. Further analyses revealed that an individual's profile was not related to frequency of past trauma, but had the power to differentiate symptom severity for overall PTS and each symptom cluster of posttraumatic stress disorder. These findings highlight how profiles characterising multiple regulatory strategies offer a more complete understanding of the ways ER can account for PTS.     

Children's ability to control the facial expression of laughter and smiling: Knowledge and behaviour

A total of 64 children, aged 7 and 10, watched a clown performing three sketches rated as very funny by the children. Two experimental conditions were created by asking half of the participants to suppress their laughter. Facial expressions were videotaped and analysed with FACS. For both ages, the results show a significant shorter duration (but not a lower frequency) of episodes of laughter and Duchenne smiles, and greater frequency of facial control movements in the suppression compared to the free expression group. The detailed results on individual facial action units used to control amusement expressions suggest hypotheses on the nature of the underlying processes. The participants' explicit knowledge of their control strategies was assessed through standardised interviews. Although behavioural control strategies were reported equally frequently by the two age groups, 10-year-olds verbalised more mental control strategies than 7-year-olds. This theoretically expected difference was not related to the actual ability to control facial expression. This result challenges the commonly held assumption that explicit knowledge of control strategies results in a greater ability to execute such control in ongoing social interactions.     

Establishment and replication of emotion regulation profiles: implications for psychological health

Background and Objectives: A promising method of capturing the complex nature of emotion regulation is to assess composite profiles of regulation (i.e., default pattern of regulation across multiple strategies). However, it remains unclear whether regulatory profiles demonstrate consistency across samples and in relation to mental health. Design: Two studies are presented here. Both utilized a cross-sectional design, and the second study presents a replication of the first. Method: Both studies utilized self-report data from independent undergraduate samples to perform latent profile analyses of emotion regulation use. Results: Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated evidence for four replicable regulatory profiles: Adaptive, Accepting (with or without Suppression), Non-accepting, and Maladaptive. Profiles were also related to symptoms of depression and anxiety, such that those consistently relying on adaptive strategies reported lower symptoms than those relying more heavily on maladaptive strategies. Conclusions: These findings clarify previous work which tied regulatory profiles to psychological health by extending a person-centered approach to understanding the ways in which individuals regulate their emotions.     

Gaining control: training executive function and far transfer of the ability to resolve interference

Functional brain-imaging data document overlapping sites of activation in prefrontal cortex across memory tasks, suggesting that these tasks may share common executive components. We leveraged this evidence to develop a training regimen and a set of transfer tasks to examine the trainability of a putative executive-control process: interference resolution. Eight days of training on high-interference versions of three different working memory tasks increased the efficiency with which proactive interference was resolved on those particular tasks. Moreover, an improved ability to resolve interference was also transferred to different working memory, semantic memory, and episodic memory tasks, a demonstration of far-transfer effects from process-specific training. Participants trained with noninterference versions of the tasks did not exhibit transfer. We infer that the transfer we demonstrated resulted from increased efficiency of the interference-resolution process. Therefore, this aspect of executive control is plastic and adaptive, and can be improved by training.     

The consistent acceleration of lifted objects: implications for kinesthetic illusions and the perception of weight

In examining films of lifting movements in a study of the size-weight illusion (Davis & Roberts, 1976) a consistency was noted in the values obtained for the maximum accelerations of the objects lifted. While at first surprising, this finding can be embedded significantly in theories relating to kinesthetic illusions and the perception of weight and to theories on the control of general physical movement. This study was designed to confirm its existence. Twenty-four subjects were filmed lifting four objects differing in size, shape, substance, color, and weight. The film was analyzed frame-by-frame and the data were subjected to a two-way analysis of variance. Subjects, while differing from one another, were consistent in the maximum accelerations they applied to the three heaviest of the four objects. The accelerations of the lightest object differed significantly from the accelerations of the other three, but it seems likely that this was due to the experimental task itself.     

A neural-network model enabling sensorimotor learning: Application to the control of arm movements and some implications for speech-motor control and stuttering

Summary Low-level motor control is defined as adapting an organism to the unique physical properties of its own limbs. The two-jointed arm serves to exemplify that effective low-level motor control demands a neurally mediated inversion of the dynamics, as well as of the kinematics, of a limb system. Reflex-like processing — that is, feedforword of either actual or predicted proprioceptive signals —is thereby assumed to be the principle of the dynamics control. As regards speech-motor control, the overall tool transformation is assumed to transform the force pattern of the articulatory muscles into speech sounds. Like the arm model, the vocal-tract transformation thus defined is also divided into two parts, namely the transformation relating the muscle forces to the mechanospatial states of the vocal tract (which is analogous to the forward dynamics including natural interarticulatory couplings), and the transformation relating the mechanospatial states to the speech sounds. Low-level speech-motor control, then, needs to invert both transformations, each of which can be learned by means of the self-imitation algorithm. Erroneous learning can fail to decouple interarticulatory coupling and therefore lead to abnormal feedback loops through the reflex-like operating neural network, which in turn can cause stuttering if audiophonatoric coupling is involved in learning.     

Reward, dopamine and the control of food intake: implications for obesity

The ability to resist the urge to eat requires the proper functioning of neuronal circuits involved in top-down control to oppose the conditioned responses that predict reward from eating the food and the desire to eat the food. Imaging studies show that obese subjects might have impairments in dopaminergic pathways that regulate neuronal systems associated with reward sensitivity, conditioning and control. It is known that the neuropeptides that regulate energy balance (homeostatic processes) through the hypothalamus also modulate the activity of dopamine cells and their projections into regions involved in the rewarding processes underlying food intake. It is postulated that this could also be a mechanism by which overeating and the resultant resistance to homoeostatic signals impairs the function of circuits involved in reward sensitivity, conditioning and cognitive control.     

Structure of the visual array and saccadic latency: implications for oculomotor control

Subjects were required to look saccadically at single targets selected from one- or two-dimensional arrays of different numbers of possible alternative targets. Saccadic latencies varied with the direction but not the distance of the target, with practice and with individual subject. The effect of number of alternatives was complex, and it is suggested that an important factor influencing saccadic latency is not the number of targets per se but the number of possible directions in which a saccade may have to go.